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Just when we thought that we had hit rock bottom and there is hardly any opportunity to revive the mistakes that humans have already committed towards nature, a ray of hope appeared promising better and cleaner days. According to reports, there is a massive patch of plastic debris of plastic wastes that rest on the bed of the Pacific Ocean, somewhere around the Northeast of Hawaii; and it was mainly the ocean currents that encouraged this massacre to pile upon one another.

Even though it is commonly referred to as “The Great Pacific Garbage Patch,” sometimes it is also known by the name of “The North Pacific Gyre.” If the claims are to be believed, this is one of the largest ecosystems that ever dwelled on the face of the earth with its realms stretching up to millions of kilometers. To give you a clearer idea of magnanimity, the size of the Great Garbage Patch can be equated with that of Queensland, Australia.

In the present times, one of the most significant issues that have been continuously raising alarms is plastic pollution in oceans. As the children of the earth, it is our responsibility to rid of all the adulteries that have been accumulating on the earth’s surface for so long. Thankfully our desires are no more just a tab of wishful thinking; people, in reality, are working their ways towards the betterment.

After wreaking havoc on its own, plastic pollution has moved on to generate graver repercussions in the form of micro-plastic pollution, whose level of contamination is beyond our control. As per the data circulated by scientists from the USA, Chile, Australia, New Zealand, and France, there are about 5.25 tons of plastic particles swimming in the ocean, and interestingly, a significant portion of them is constituted by microplastics.

After discovering the patch in the 90s, scientists believed that it would take thousands of years to clean it up but, Boyan Slat defied this assumption and stated at the TEDx talk that he could do it in less than ten years once he has his special equipment ready to be employed. Besides crowdfunding, he received near about $2.2 million from investors to bring Slat’s ideas to life and remove every speck of plastic from the Pacific Ocean.

After dedicating one year to analyze the proficiency of the proposition and machinery, The Ocean Cleanup organization affirmed that their System 001/B vessel is started collecting and discarding of plastic debris successfully from the sea bed. The system capitalizes on the natural forces of the waves in the ocean to draw the plastic in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

This idea was first put forward by the creator himself in 2012, and people are more than elated to see this project take shape and are patiently waiting for its results. Other than collecting the dull shreds of plastic, System 001/B vessel is also assembling microplastics as small as 1 millimeter leaving the organization in pleasant surprise.

A Solar water treatment plant has been designed and formulated by GivePower, an NGO. This innovative project has already blessed the lives of residents of Kiunga, which is a tiny town in Kenya. GivePower is striving to simulate the same technology in different world regions.

Credits to GivePower, Kenya, has established the very first solar water treatment plant that transforms saline water of the oceans into safe drinking water. It looks like it could be a compelling solution to water scarcity across the globe.

Did you know, more than two million people across the globe have no access to safe drinking water? What an irony for a planet that is covered more than seventy percent with water. What looks like a paradox, maybe the pivotal obstacle for the future of humanity: How to turn saline waters of sea or oceans into safe drinking water? And the answer to this mystery is located in the tiny town of Kiunga.

This magical system creates safe drinking water for 35000 people daily.

A report published by WHO a few months ago conveys that 33% of the global population doesn’t have access to drinking water. And the situation in the Sub-Saharan areas is even worse. This reason encouraged GivePower to install the very first treatment plant, which transmutes saline water of the Indian Ocean to drinking water. It has been a year since the plant was made operational. Owing to the success of the pilot project, GivePower plans to install similar plants in other countries, namely, Haiti and Columbia.

A conventional desalination process is expensive as the plant devours high amounts of power supply. Hence a typical desalination plant can be installed in only those areas that have sufficient facilities to produce and distribute top energy supplies.

GivePower solved this complexity by using solar technology, efficient enough to produce 50 kW of power. As per NGO, the quality of water of this pilot plant is better than that of a conventional desalination plant. Also, it doesn’t even have an unfavorable environmental impact that the process commonly causes since the extraction of salt elicits saline residues and contaminants that are toxic to animals and plants.

Before the installation of this eco-friendly desalination plant, the residents of Kiunga had to travel miles to access their water source, a source that gave dirty water. The only source Kiunga residents used came from a well located on the same channel, which had been used for animal bathing, which means full of pollutants and parasites. Before the implementation of this technology, the residents were obligated to use dirty and salty water for their day to day needs.

It has been estimated, half of the world’s population will live in regions facing water shortage by 2025. Wastewater treatment is becoming the primary technique. Did you know, of all the water that covers mother earth on 2.5 per cent is freshwater? So, the NGO’s eco-friendly desalination method can be an effective way to fight the problem of water scarcity across the globe.

GivePower is a real example of good things happening in the world.

In the southern part of Malawi, Africa, Chief Theresa Kachindamoto has become a marriage terminator. She is the Chief of Dedza district, with a population of approx. 900,000 Malawian people. Since 2003, she has successfully stopped more than 850 child marriages. Chief Kachindamoto has made great efforts protecting, empowering, and ultimately helping the girls to create a healthy community. 

Theresa Kachindamoto was the youngest child in a family with 12 siblings. For 27 years, she worked as a secretary at a College in Zomba District in southern Malawi. She married and became the mother of five boys. She claimed she had been chosen because she was “good with people” and was now senior Chief, whether she liked it or not. She accepted the position of chief and returned to Monkey Bay, where she assumed the traditional red robes, beads, and leopard skin headband.

Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world. As per the United Nations Development Program, otherwise known as, UNDP survey, more than 50.7% of the overall population lives below the poverty line. Although being a chief of the area, Theresa had several responsibilities to handle along with the challenges related to food and sustainability. Still, her first most noted, an essential step was to stop child marriage. 

Child Marriage in Malawi:

Child marriage is one of the most disturbing trends in the world. More than half of the girls in Malawi had been married before they reach the age of 18. The country is known for having one of the highest rates of child marriages in the world, with particularly high rates in rural areas. Child marriage is damaging to the child and the economic and social progress of the community.

As per the reports available from the United States by the year 2012, more than 50% of the Malawi girls were forced to marry before completing 18 years of their age. It prompted Chief Kachindamoto to take immediate action. 

In 2015, Malawi passed a law that forbade marriage before the age of 18. By 2019, Chief Kachindamoto had fired the sub-chiefs involved in the child marriage and had annulled over 3500 child marriages and sent the children back to school. These efforts have also contributed to gender equality in the area.

Chief Kachindamoto told Nyasa Times, “I don’t want youthful marriages, they must go to school. We have now set our own laws to govern everybody within my area when it comes to marriages and will leave no sacred cow. No child should be found loitering at home, gardening, or doing any household chores during school time. No village head, GVH, or church clergy to officiate marriage before scrutinizing the birth dates of the couple.”

The Chief is aiming to transform a nation and its culture around young girls. She knows it will take time. So she goes door to door, talking to parents. She’s built coalitions and passed by-laws that prohibit early marriage and sexual initiation customs. When faced with severe resistance, she shrugs off death threats, harassment and is unfazed. Chief Kachindamoto says the law is the law, and she won’t back down. She has also stated with a laugh, she is in power and will not be stepping down.